A Defense of the Given

by Fales, Evan M.

• ISBN13: 9780847683062
• ISBN10: 0847683060
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-27
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

What is the connection between experience and knowledge? Evan Fales defends the contested idea that sense experience can be used to justify basic beliefs. He explores what it is for a belief to be self-evident and examines implications for his argument of Gestalt psychology and visual phenomena and illusions. Fales diverges from classical foundationalism, however, arguing that basic beliefs are often only probable, rather than infallible. A Defense of the Given is an important work not only for epistemologists but for all philosophers interested in how we can justify our beliefs.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
Preface	xi
The Doctrine of the Given	1	(28)
The Myth of the Given	1	(13)
The Given and Theories of Perception	14	(15)
Varieties, Modes, and Degrees of Givenness	29	(12)
Describing the Given	29	(1)
Sensory Consciousness	30	(1)
Imagination	31	(4)
Attention and Recognition	35	(6)
The Challenge of Gestalt Psychology	41	(48)
Duck/Rabbits	42	(10)
Amodal Perception	52	(6)
The Tilted Coin	58	(8)
Penrose/Escher Figures	66	(3)
The Given as Impossible---Other Cases	69	(11)
Sensory Awareness of Relations	80	(3)
Conclusion	83	(6)
The Conceptual Content of the Given	89	(26)
The Myth of the Conceptual Nakedness of the Given	89	(14)
Theoretical Concepts and the Given	103	(6)
Recent Defenses of the Non-Conceptuality of Perceptual Experience	109	(6)
Perceptual Belief	115	(22)
Does the Given Have Propositional Content?	115	(7)
Sellars's Dilemma	122	(3)
Language and the Given	125	(12)
The Given and Knowledge	137	(54)
The Given as Evidence	137	(6)
Givenness and Infallibility: The Role of Direct Acquaintance	143	(7)
BonJour's Challenge to Foundationalism	150	(5)
Justification of A Priori Knowledge Claims	155	(11)
Empirical Knowledge	166	(7)
Uncertain Foundations: Their Role in Justification	173	(18)
Concluding Unmetaphysical Postscript	191	(24)
Some Old Problems	191	(4)
The Discontent of the Qualia	195	(14)
Classical Foundationalism: Death and Resurrection	209	(6)
Bibliography	215	(6)
Index	221	(6)
About the Author	227